CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kenny Atkinson said he still remembers his reservations when Nets general manager Sean Marksﷺ brought up dꦺrafting Rodions Kurucs. He didn’t see a revelation, but a reach.
“I wish we could take credit for it, the coaches. I think it’s talent identification, I really do,” Atkinson sai꧋d. “Sean and Trajan [Langdon] and Gianluca Pascucci, those guys identified him.
“[They said] here’s a guy who has first-round potential and he slipped to ♔40. And I’m like, ‘What the heck are you guys telling me? This guy didn’t even play! He hasn’t played a ton.’ So really that’s [where credit goes]. Then we’ve just kind of given him the opportunity. That’s kind of how it’s rolled out.”
Now the Nets are rolling with Kurucs. With the Latvian in the lineup they’re 6-1 and he’s averaging 12.9 points and six rebounds, shooting 53.3 per🐷cent overall and 40 percent from deep. Kurucs has bumped that to 17.7 points and 8.3 boards over his past three games, hitting 55.6 percent from 3-point range.
So far the second-round selection isn’t just playing like a first-rounder, but like a lottery pick. NBA.com put Kurucs fifth 🌞on its latest Rookie Ladder, behind only Top-10 picks Luka Doncic, Deandre Ayton, Kevin Knox and Jaren Jackson Jr. Oh, and he’s ahead of Collin Sexton, taken with the Nets’ pick that was the last payment on that 2013 Boꩲston deal.
For a 20-year-old who had barely played for Barcelona, he’s exceeded all expectations, e🍰ven his own.
“I thought my first year would be completely different t♊han it is now. I’m really excited for that,” Kurucs said. “I thought it’d be more in the G-League because I didn’t play last year. To get this freedom, this playing time [is great]. It turned out a little different.”
Kurucs had 13 points, 12 boa𝓀rds and three steals in 38:46 on Wednesday, just five minutes less than hꦰe played for Barcelona all last season.
“Yeah, that’s crazy! I thought about it. When I checked my playing time I was like, ‘[Wow!] I played a little less than I played last year,’ ” Kurucs said. “It surprised me of course because I didn’t play last year. Now I’m here in the best le𓄧ague in the world and I’m playing more than I did in Europe. So of course it surprised me.”
Kurucs is a case of the Nets searching under every rock for talent, because he was buried. He’d spent most of the past two seasons with Barcelona II in Spain’s second division, and after initially declaring for t♎he 2017 NBA Draft, he was frozen out last season and given just 44 minutes with the first team.
But Marks scouted Kurucs personally in March 2017, meeting Barcelona’s GM and presumably getting the Latvian called up that day. With Kurucs sightings as rare as Bigfoot, one NBA team assigned a scout to follow him, 🍌according to DraftExpress. If that was the Nets, it has paid off handsomely.
“He was identified early,” Atkinson said. “[Marks and La♑ngdon] identified him a💃nd his name kept coming up and I’d say we took particular interest in him.
“We probably saw him more than we saw other guys, so [we] really had a good [feel for him]. Those guys had high interest in him. Ther♒e’s a whole other level of seeing him more, and then when we brought him in here [for] another level of interviews. He was on the high-priority list.”
The Nets banked on his game translating to 🅠the NBA, and it clearly has.
“The style fits me,” said Kurucs, whos♒e +58 leads the Nets, all 🔴second-rounders and all international rookies.
“It’s a different game,” Atkinson said. “The freedom of the NBA, the pace of this game, fits his style better. Europe is more halfcourt, more sets-oriented. We’re more read-and-react, free-flowing, get out and run. … We’re a little more equal opportunity.”
Kurucs has taken his and run with it.